I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat is a famous phrase in a speech given by Winston Churchill, which would be heard on the radio in the 1940s. The comic then goes on to list numerous other increasingly obscure bodily fluids, including through the title text, ending humorously with gin (which Churchill was partial to).

Discussion

As I was reading the comic today, I saw the joke, but didn't really find it funny. Then I burst out laughing when I finally got to the word "gin". 76.122.5.96 06:36, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

I'm thinking the "CHLY" cut off behind the radio might be a typo, meant to be "CHYL(E)"? "...a milky bodily fluid consisting of lymph and emulsified fats". Sokak (talk) 11:24, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

What is 'toil'? English is not my native language, and I heard before "blood, sweat and tears" but never heard before about 'toil'. Also, it's conviniently missing from the ordered list. Is it related to toilets? 189.123.133.2 03:16, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Toil simply means struggle or laborious effort. It's the only thing that is breaking the pattern of the bodily fluids but is part of the original quote from Churchill. --184.36.97.155 04:42, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

I don't actually think 'CHYL' was a typo and he just couldn't write the E because of the spacing...so it wasn't a mistake and EVERYTHING RANDALL MUNROE WRITES IS AWESOME AND PERFECT. 125.34.1.165 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

The typo wasn't the missing 'E'. A lot of the fluids on that list are obscured by the radio and contain missing letters. Read the two carefully. What's written is CHLY and what it is assumed to mean is CHYLE. 110.174.201.221 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

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